God is always on time - Devo By Josué Corcoles

Hello Everyone! I am so excited for this devotional because it was written by a very dear friend of mine, Josué Corcoles! To the readers, I hope the spirit speaks to you through this message. Josue, I pray the Lord continues to use and guide you!

The following text is a Devotional, " God is always on time " by Josue Corcoles:

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In preparation for the bible competition at this year's youth camp, I began re-reading the Pentateuch, also known as the Torah or the books of Law. These include lots of stories and events that I have read and heard many times, but something really stood out to me in the book of Exodus. At this point, God has freed the Israelite people from slavery in Egypt. They have witnessed many miracles and experienced his power. They saw the plagues that were sent upon Egypt, and they watched the Red Sea be parted. Now Moses is called by God unto Mount Sinai, and we see the creation of the golden calf.  'When the people saw that Moses was so long in coming down from the mountain, they gathered around Aaron and said, “Come, make us gods who will go before us. As for this fellow Moses, who brought us up out of Egypt, we don’t know what has happened to him.” Exodus 32:1  When reading this, it’s difficult not to think about it as an outward defiance and to judge these people for committing idolatry after just being freed and witnessing the power of God. That is, until you stop and think about how many times we as Christians become guilty of the same thing. How many times have we seen God move in our lives? How many times have we seen Him heal the sick, bring comfort to the weary, and free people from bondage? Still, we find a way to doubt Him and turn away from Him. What stood out to me after reading this passage this time around was the people's desperation. It’s not that they stopped believing in God or that they forgot what He had done. They knew Moses had gone up to obey a calling, but he was taking too long, so they decided to take matters into their own hands. This got me thinking about the serious conflict that humanity has with being patient with God's timing. Even Abraham had trouble accepting God’s timing, so he had a son with his servant, but God said, “No, my covenant is with the son that I will give you,” and this covenant was fulfilled until hundred of years later when He would lead his people to the promised land. We ourselves struggle with this issue of being patient with God’s plans. At times, we become so desperate for an answer or a solution that we turn away from God and look for answers elsewhere. The Israelites lived their whole lives in a pagan nation that worshiped many false gods and idols so when they failed to receive a quick answer they turned back to Egypt and made up a new idol that fit what they wanted just like we turn back to our sin, turn back to the world that Jesus brought us out of because we think we can find an answer there. This desperation almost got the Israelites destroyed in the same way sin begins to destroy our lives when we turn back to it. God speaks to Moses in chapter 33. 'Go up to the land flowing with milk and honey. But I will not go with you, because you are a stiff-necked people and I might destroy you on the way.”  'Exodus 33:3 This world can achieve a quick want, but it won’t satisfy what you need. This desperation can also come with a calling. Sometimes we receive a calling and are so desperate to see its fruits that we stray away from the calling itself. We begin to want to reap a harvest that we haven’t yet sown. It is in this when we must learn to trust the Lord and know that he is in control. He is never late and knows exactly when to work. Something else I found interesting in this story and maybe even a little ironic is that I imagine the Israelite people expected something big and extraordinary when Moses went up the Sinai, such as the wonders and the miracles they had seen God perform before. Instead, Moses came down the mountain with a set of laws that God had established in order to begin a process of purification intended to prepare His people for the promise. When we look to God for an answer, his response won’t always appear in the way we had hoped for. Sometimes it won’t even be what we asked for, but what’s certain is that it’s always what we need. Asking God for help in reaching a goal or destination may involve a time of preparation, as in the case of the Israelites. It’s our job to stand like Moses and say what he said. 'Then Moses said to him, “If your Presence does not go with us, do not send us up from here. 'Exodus 33:15 In everything that we do, we must pray that we do it in accordance with His will and that His plans will guide the way for us through good and bad. Giving control to God isn’t a burden that leaves us with no choice in our lives; rather, it is a comfort and a relief that we don’t have to carry the weight of always having to know what to do. We can leave it to Him and trust that it will result in the best possible outcome. Too many times, I have reflected on impactful moments in my life and have found that I can’t imagine them going any other way than they did in the end. I believe if you truly analyze your own experience, you’ll find the same thing to be true. It’s not by chance nor by accident. It is God's plan at work in his perfect time. Ultimately, He is an all-powerful God and the path of our life rests in his hands, and I choose to believe in faith what the psalmist said, Psalms 37:25, 'I have been young, and now am old; Yet have I not seen the righteous forsaken, nor his seed begging bread. '